Betting that consumer-oriented companies really want to keep their customers happy after they've made their purchases is risky. The evidence: the differences in wait times for calls made to sales numbers as compared to customer support numbers. Toronto-based Fonolo does in fact help such companies keep their customers happy. Its so-called deep dialing service provides online interfaces that let customers click buttons to bypass convoluted and frustrating call-in phone menus. But Fonolo also does something that bottom-line-oriented enterprises might find more appealing: It saves them time and money on the handling of inbound calls.
In basic terms, Fonolo's service negotiates enterprises' IVR systems for their customers. The customers can select from an online menu or set of buttons and click for the department or function they want to reach. Fonolo dials into the IVR and generates sequences of key-press tones as needed to reach the specified destination. It then calls the customer and connects him or her to the waiting agent. Fonolo knows which choices to make from having mapped hundreds of enterprise customer service phone menus.
The ensuing customer satisfaction alone should be a worthwhile goal to the companies involved. But Fonolo president Shai Berger says that having happier customers actually saves companies money, because contented customers require less agent time to resolve their issues. But greater savings come from specific boosts in efficiency that Fonolo's service brings.
One such boost results from a decrease in mis-navigation by callers. If people end up talking to the wrong agent, it's costly in a couple of ways. First, it takes extra agent time to direct them to the right person. Second, it might drive callers to routinely press 0 to reach an operator. That operator then has to spend time to redirect the call to the appropriate customer service agent.
Another efficiency boost comes from decreased customer hold time, which again both makes the customer happy and saves the company money. Customer calls typically come in over toll-free lines. Thus every minute a caller spends on hold has a clear cost. Fonolo's solution is to put the caller in a "virtual queue." In simple terms, that means Fonolo does the waiting on hold, and then calls the customer when the agent is ready. It saves money because Fonolo's calls can come in on a cheap local line or even via VoIP, rather than through the expensive toll-free number.
Fonolo can also collect customer data such as account numbers or purchase information, which callers can enter via their computer keyboards. Fonolo then enters the data into the IVR system through key tones. It saves time while reducing the aggravation callers feel when they have to enter or speak the same information multiple times during a call, as often happens with corporate call centers.
A key selling point of Fonolo's service is that it requires no changes in the call centers involved. Companies need merely put a simple widget on their Websites. The customer clicks the appropriate button, and is prompted to enter a phone number on which to receive the call. Fonolo does the rest.
Fonolo will be presenting at the Under the Radar conference in Mountain View, Calif. on Friday, April 16.
Interesting idea about the benefits of using Fonolo deep dialing. Using Fonolo service does not require changes in the call center involved in the operation. Thanks for the information. Nice blog!
Posted by: call center philippines | 04/27/2010 at 11:42 PM